Artist and activist Mostafa Azimitabar, better known as Moz, has twice been a finalist in Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize, the Archibald – yet he’s not legally allowed to study in this country and must reapply for his bridging visa every six months. After reaching Australia by boat in 2013, Moz was immediately detained by the Australian Government and exiled to Manus Island with 1,500 other refugees. To survive his imprisonment, he began to paint with the only tools he had at his disposal: a toothbrush and a cup of instant coffee. Now a free man and an acclaimed artist, Moz is using his voice to speak up for the rights of refugees: those locked up in detention and those who have been waiting more than a decade for a permanent visa. He continues to use his toothbrush to create art that embodies his message of love and hope.

CARODY CULVER: You were born in Iran in the 1980s, when the country was at war with Iraq; you’re also part of Iran’s persecuted Kurdish minority. So you grew up in an environment of intense civil unrest and extreme violence. When and why did you realise that you had to flee?